P.E.I. dairy farmers hijack government announcement

P.E.I. dairy farmers were at a joint federal/provincial announcement on highway repaving in Cardigan Friday to make their displeasure with the USMCA deal known.

The farmers placed a poster in front of the podium reading "Dairy farm for sale." The trade agreement announced this week would allowAmerican farmers access to 3.59 per cent of Canada's supply-managed dairy products market.

It was the third deal that bargained away part of the Canadian dairy market.

Deanna Doctor, part of a family farm outside of Kensington, was one of dozens of dairy farmers who turned up for the protest.

"I would like to send a message, hopefully all the way up to Trudeau, that we are not happy with this deal. We're not happy with the fine print of the deal. The more that comes out about it the more livid we're getting. We don't want compensation. We just want to feed our nation," said Doctor.

With part of the quota going to the U.S., said Doctor, every dairy farmer at the protestis expecting to have to sell off a couple of cows, but she added everyone will be selling cows, and there will be no one to buy them.

Doctor said what was planned as a small meeting to discuss strategy at her family farm Thursday ended up attracting 50 farmers.

The joint infrastructure announcement was for about $3.5 million in highway repaving, with the costs split evenly between the federal and provincial governments.

The projects include just over 17 kilometres of repaving on 14 different routes, an expanded left turn laneonto Route 1 in Cornwall from Heatherway Drive and Route 19, and a new culvert in Little Harbour.

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With files from Nicole Williams